Dr. Murnane specializes in human-computer interaction, information science, and social computing, focusing on applications in healthcare, STEM education, and environmental sustainability. In the health domain, Liz’s work develops digital therapeutics and intervention technologies, with an emphasis on inclusive design and health equity. At Dartmouth, she directs the Empower Research Lab, which creates interactive tools for health monitoring and behavior change through an empowerment approach. The lab employs human-centered methods and explores a variety of form factors and interaction paradigms (e.g., AR/VR/XR, games, toys, tangibles, musical interfaces, narratives, psychotherapeutic visualization, socially assistive robots, and more).

These ideas and efforts have directly contributed to proposals funded by the NIH, NSF, foundations, and industry partners. Before joining the Dartmouth faculty, Liz was a postdoctoral scholar in Computer Science at Stanford University and received her PhD in Information Science from Cornell University. After completing her undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Computer Science at MIT, she also spent 4 years as the lead engineer and head of experimental features of a CSAIL startup that built interactive visualization tools to help software developers make sense of complex codebases. Liz’s work continues to promote translational approaches that seek opportunities to meaningfully engage with and positively shape industry practices, local communities, and policy-making.

Additional research details, publications, and active projects can be found at Liz’s website: empowerlab.dartmouth.edu